A self-organizing network, SON, is an automation technology designed to make planning, configuration, management, optimization and healing of mobile radio access networks simpler and faster. SON functionality and behavior have been defined and specified in generally accepted mobile industry recommendations produced by organizations such as 3rd generation partnership project, 3GPP, and the next generation mobile networks, NGMN. One of the promise of SON may be considered to operations support systems, OSS, or operational support systems in British usage, which are computer systems used by telecommunications service providers to manage their networks. OSS support management functions, such as network inventory, service provisioning, network configuration, performance and fault management, CM, PM and FM.
There are a number of individual functions, SON functions or non-SON functions, working in the network elements of a real network, for example in long term evolution, LTE, network. Many of these functions do their work, for example monitoring, making a decision, changing certain parameter of a network element, etc., themselves without any consulting to and instruction or permission from an OSS function (a function of an OSS), once enabled. These functions usually react to quick changes in their very limited network scope, in real time.
If a function changes some parameter of a network element, the change could be notified instantly to the OSS function. For example, the configuration management, CM, history entity, for example CM history tabular reports, at OSS side has the information of a configuration action, which is made by a function locally working at a network element. However, the other OSS functions, including the GUI for human operator in a network operations center, do not have this change information directly. For example, a coordination function working at the OSS does not have this information of the changed function, if the function is not under its direct coordination. Examples of functions which may not be under direct coordination of an OSS are mobility load balancing, MLB, distributed mobility robustness, d-SON MRO, enhanced inter-cell interference coordination, eICIC, circuit switched fall back, CSFB, single radio voice call continuation, SRVCC, and service based handover, SBHO.